The Scarlet Mark
by ComicsInspire
Summary: Jean Grey fights an old nemesis seeking to exploit her power and destroy the world.


**THE SCARLET MARK**

_Snap his neck._

A bloodied and bruised Quicksilver looked up at me. I could see the reflection of the flames in my eyes in his expanded pupils.

_Stop his heart!_

The whispers were getting stronger.

The cooling sensation of dying flesh reached my fingertips through Quicksilver's tattered uniform.

My mind was taunting me. Reminding me of... What I could be. What I've been before. My lip curled instinctively in a half smile. The dark was GOOD for those who lorded over it.

The next minute I heard the chastening voice of the Professor in my head. No internal whisper, but a fond memory. From the day he had helped me save my own life, right when I was about to destroy it and take the world with me.

"You always have a choice, Jean. You are not the darkness of your temptations! The evil that threatens you must LIE to, because that's the only way it can get out! Do not let emotional weight of pressure lead you to becoming someone you do not want to be..."

Quicksilver's head slumped. I'd thrashed him pretty badly.

_But you DO want to be this_.

The whispers filled my head and I held Quicksilver high in triumph. Ready to incinerate him with a mere thought. To pay the sins of the father upon the son, desperately trying to walk in his footsteps.

Adrenaline filled my veins and power surged through my skin...

My knees buckled, and I tossed him to the ground.

No. I did not want to be the darkness. Maybe I would fall again some day. But this day...

This day I have won.

/\/\/

AWWWRRRRROOOAAAGGGGHHH!

Wolverine let out a furious growl and swiped twice at ?east, Cyclops, and Nightcrawler.

Training exercise.

Nightcrawler vanished instantly. Beast nimbly ducked under his claws, then swiped at him with his extremely agile feet. Wolverine was already jumping above the anticipated attack, but what he DIDN'T see coming was Cyclops' full powered optic blast waiting for him to do just that. The red beam caught him full on in the jaw, sending him flying across the room. Right before impact, Nightcrawler reappeared above him in full, perfect execution of a somersaulting heel kick.

Wolverine thudded firmly into the ground.

Nightcrawler vanished and reappeared a few feet away.

Wolverine groaned as he stood up. He fingered his jaw gingerly.

"Looks like you losers have been practicing," he spat gruffly.

Cyclops smirked, as Beast commented.

"Well, seeing as how you statistically don't stand a chance with our combined abilities, it was only a small calculated manner to figure out which- _oof!_"

Wolverine interrupted the brilliant blue creature with a quick side kick into his chest.

Cyclops fired beam after beam in Wolverine's direction, but to no avail. Logan was in wild man mode and it seemed as if nothing could touch him. He slashed both blasts out of the air. Right on schedule, he ducked and grabbed the rematerialized Nightcrawler by the tail and hurled him into the oncoming Cyclops. They collided head on, and vanished instantly as Nightcrawler attempted to minimize physical damage. Beast sprung back into the fray. They traded blows, and then Wolverine boxed him soundly in the face with two adamantium enhanced fists. Beast stumbled back, dazed a moment. Wolverine lingered there, smirking, then stepped back exactly upon reentry and smashed the heads of his three opponents together.

They collapsed to the ground, barely conscious.

Wolverine dusted his hands together.

"Well, bub. Seems like you losers need to do a little more… _calculating._"

He turned to walk away.

"Logan. Hank. Scott. Kurt. I need you immediately." Professor Xavier's voice echoed in everyone's head.

Wolverine tossed a satisfied grunt over his shoulder.

"You boys need a medic."

Cyclops scowled.

/\/\/

Jean walked down the road.

She was planning to flag a ride.

She was too tired to fly and she didn't want to call anybody from the institute.

A semi truck pulled over, and a hooded woman with a low voice called to her from inside the vehicle.

"Do you need a ride ma'am?"

"Yes. Yes I do."

/\/\/

"Why have you gathered us here Professor?" Cyclops addressed the mutant leader of mutants.

Even Wolverine was concerned- the Professor's voice had felt urgent.

Professor X wheeled back and forth pensively.

"There's something wrong… somewhere. There's a fire coming."

/\/\/

_Kill her. She's trouble._

"Where to?"  
"Just… into town."

_Let me OUT._

"Hop on in."

"Thank you."

Jean slid into the passenger's seat. They road on in silence for five minutes. The driver tried some small talk, but stopped after it became clear that Jean wasn't interested. Ten minutes later, they stopped. They were on the stretch of road that went through the mountains before descending back down to the city. Jean looked over apprehensively.

"Why are we stopping?"

The mysterious driver turned slightly.

"Because it's time for phase two."

Jean balked.

"Phase two? … who are you?"

/\/\/

"You're being awful vague Charles." Wolverine folded his arms.

"I'm afraid, I must concur," Beast spoke up.

Cyclops joined in as well.

"Yeah Professor. What's going on. This is no time for secrecy. Did Magneto escape?"

Professor Charles Xavier surveyed them for a long moment, and then something shifted in his face and his shoulders slumped slightly.

"It's Jean," he said heavily. "She's in trouble."

/\/\/

The stranger removed her hood and faced Jean fully. Jean gasped, startled.

"Wanda!"

Wanda smiled cruelly.

"Hello Jean."

/\/\/

Cyclops panicked.

"What's happening to her!?"

Professor X looked grim.

"I'm not sure. Something awful."

Beast and Wolverine traded fierce glances, while Nightcrawler's tail began weaving an aggressive pattern in the air.

"But that is why we must find her, and find her quickly."

/\/\/

A psionic blast blew Wanda through the driver's side door and into the mountain. Jean lifted herself out of the passenger's seat, and then crumbled the entire truck into a telekinetic fireball of metal death and sent it after her. Wanda hit the mountain viciously. Pain wracked her entire body. Her eyes widened and she wove a quick spell of energy around the incoming projectile, that sent it veering upwards toward the sun. Jean reached out with her powers to try and smash Wanda with the truck once more, but the daughter of Magneto rocketed out of the mountainside and collided with Jean mid-air.

The two powerful, mutant women tousled each other in the air. The telekinetically contained, and suspended, ball of metal and fire dipped and rose in response to Jean's ability to focus. But with Wanda constantly clawing at her face, there was no way to hit her with the deadly ball without hitting herself.

"What do you want from me?" Jean cried.

"The dark bird within," Wanda hissed. "I want… the _Pheonix._"

/\/\/

_Let me out!_

Wanda didn't understand what she was asking for. She thought the Pheonix was just some extreme power to concur, but that wasn't it at all. Pheonix was living energy. Living energy with a private agenda that often crossed the borders of evil.

_Let me out!_

The whisper was rocking my head right now. It was getting difficult to breathe. Difficult to focus. Every time I _pushed _my psyche outwards, Wanda used her own powers to reverse it, so that I clamped down on my own self. I was trapped.

Wanda pounding me from the outside.

The Pheonix raging against me from the inside.

_It doesn't have to be this way. I can withstand the car blast. Release me and I can save us._

I know I must be exhausted, because I almost believe its pure sounding intentions.

One thing _was _true, however… the Pheonix could withstand the impact and explosion of the car crash.

All of a sudden everything slowed down for me. Wanda's voice appeared to come from very far away. The air molecules paused their dance for me alone to examine. Colors washed in and out of clarity, daring me to will them back into full brilliance.

Fatigue weighed down all of my bones simultaneously. My muscles pierced the sky with ringing cries of pain.

And then I… me, Jean… I just… _wilted._

"You want the Pheonix?" I heard myself growl angrily. "Then you've got it!"

There was an explosion of fire in my chest as I felt myself yank the ball of death towards myself. I felt the flaming lightning race down my arms and roar out of my fingertips. Heat ruptured all parts of my body. I felt Wanda let go at the last second, but I lost sight of her. Adrenaline surged through my veins, super charging all my electrical impulses as the deadly Pheonix filled my body with power.

The flaming, projectile truck didn't even impact me.

It disintegrated upon contact.

And as I hung there, filled with the glory and splendor of the almighty Pheonix… I heard Wanda laughing madly below me. She wave her hands intricately once, twice, three times and a strange feeling like a brick hitting me _inside _my head overcame me. Suddenly I was no longer one with the Pheonix. Suddenly I was locked in a dark space where the only pools of light came from the sockets of what used to be my body.

I looked down in a panic- a pulsing red "W" was emblazoned across my whole body.

I heard my body laugh in sync with hers.

"Let me out of here!" I yelled. "What's going on!?"

The immaterial head of Wanda appeared before me.

"I've marked you," she said wickedly. "It took me a long time and a lot of practice, but this mark- this is MY mark. I own you Jean… and everything that's a part of you."

Oh no.

This could _not _be good.

/\/\/

The X-Jet rocketed through airspace, Cyclops a mad man on a mission in the pilot's chair. Professor Xavier didn't bother with words- he just sent calming vibes with his mind. Cyclops needed to be calm or he would kill all of them.

Wolverine grunted at a particularly hard turn.

"Nightcrawler. We're close. Scout ahead and see if you can get an idea of things." Beast, remaining level headed, gave a quick order. Nightcrawler saluted and vanished. Less than a minute later, he reappeared looking completely frazzled and terrified.

"What happened!" Beast and Wolverine demanded simultaneously.

Nightcrawler swallowed hard.

"What's the worst thing you can imagine happening to Jean?" he asked.

"Why the Pheonix being released of course," Xavier responded quickly.

"Well- this is worse than that."

"How do you mean?"

"The Pheonix has been released…"

The X-Jet rounded a mountain pass and descended through the air. A large multicolored bird arose before them, and the flaming wings took on the shape of a very familiar face.

"… but Wanda controls it."

**TO BE CONTINUED…**


End file.
